Dillard steps down at Granada

Granada softball coach Fran Dillard has stepped down for family reasons after 11 years in charge of the Matadors program.

Dillard said she debated the move all summer but decided that, with her daughter now 12 years old and beginning to play competitive softball more and more, she wanted to take a crack at coaching her for a change.

“My daughter is 12 and I’ve never coached her. I see about 30 percent of her games,” Dillard said. “It’s just gotten to a point where I decided I didnt want to look back and say I spent all these years with other people’s kids and not my own.”

The Matadors reached the North Coast Section playoffs five times in Dillard’s 11 years. They finished second in 2007. She made sure to point out that a future return to high school coaching is certainly not out of the question.

Granada athletic director Clark Conover said that the search is already underway to find a new coach.